My eyes flutter open and I expect to find the darkness filled with orbs, only to see a white ceiling. There's a slow beeping and a bright light coming from somewhere nearby. There are soft voices arguing back and forth, voices that sound familiar.
I slowly start to sit up, wincing slightly at the pain in my elbow and throat. But, nothing hurts quite as much as my stomach.
Once I'm fully up, the voices stop and everyone turns towards me.
"Momiji!" Two voices call in unison, as two young teenagers quickly run over and fall onto the bed I'm in, their arms wrapping lightly around my waist as they nuzzle their faces in against my sides to hide the fact that they're crying.
"Daisuke? Mika?" I somehow manage to hoarsely whisper.
"You probably shouldn't try to talk yet. The fact that you're alive right now is a miracle. That psychopath nearly crushed your larynx." A familiarly obnoxious tone of voice calls from a few feet away.
"Senpai!" I hear another voice call and a young girl with a chestnut brown bob falls across the bed, crying her eyes out. "I'm so glad you're alright!"
"Gentle, Mai. The poor girl's just woken up." A heavily accented voice calls from across the room. I look towards the voice to find the blond priest, though he's out of his robes, standing next to the priestess, the celebrity medium, and Houshou.
"Where?" I start, only to fall into a coughing fit. Mika is the first to react and she quickly finds me a glass of water. The moment she hands it to me, I start to chug it like I've never had a sip of water in my life.
"You're in the hospital. You were barely alive when they found you!" Mika answers, tears quickly filling her eyes as they wandered to my neck for a split second.
"Severe dehydration, multiple lacerations, nearly starving, barely breathing. That was just the start of it. You've got probably one of the worst concussions they've ever had to deal with." A slightly smug voice speaks up from the foot of the bed.
"How…?" I try, though my throat hurts even more now that I've had some water. I look at the empty glass in my hands and start to move towards the pitcher when Mika takes the glass and refills it.
"Mai said she had a dream that you were in serious danger and a general area for where you were located." Naru answers, resting a hand on the railing of the hospital bed.
There's a knock at the door, and everyone turns towards the sound. After a few seconds, the door opens and a set of twins and two tall men enter the already crowded room. Once I see Lin, something inside of me instantly relaxes and I take a few sips of the water once again in my hands.
The twins slowly make their way over to the small bed I'm in and stare down at me with unimaginable pity in their eyes. Blinking up at the two of them, I notice that the male twin seems almost as tired as before.
"Sleep well?" I whisper in what might be my new voice towards the young man with light green eyes.
He smiles gently, almost guiltily. "I'm sorry, Momiji-dono. If I'd just thought… I didn't know you were missing…" His shoulders are shaking and when I look around, everyone's staring at him. Some with pity, others with a slight look of anger.
I turn towards Daisuke, motioning for something to write with and on. He instantly produces a board and marker from a bag that's just out of sight. It only takes me a moment to quickly write out a response. 'It's not your fault. I was the idiot that went charging after someone in hopes of being a hero.'
"What do you mean?" The boy asks, looking confused.
"She chased after a woman with a yellow scarf. It was the woman in the papers around four days ago." Lin answers for me, his eyes never moving to look at me.
"Mirei's mother?" The young onmyoji asks, a small look of pain crossing his features as he turns towards the others.
"The older woman." The spectacled tall man adds, gently crossing his arms across his chest.
'I heard him talking to her… When I tried to help, he slapped me so hard I fell into one of the handrails.'
"Oh, gods." I can hear the female twin say, and the back of my head starts to throb slightly.
"Well, there's no need to worry about him anymore." The male twin sighs, his hand moving to his throat.
'Are you okay?' I quickly write for the younger onmyoji, who smiles down towards me.
"I'll be fine. One of the detectives was using Mirei to try and lure that man out. Last night he attacked her." He sighs, and before he can continue I'm staring in horror.
'Is she alright!?' I somehow manage to write.
"She'll be fine. She was saved by an old friend of hers. I was chasing him down to try and capture him, but he got the drop on me and… I don't remember much except not being able to breathe." The boy finishes, his gloved fingers gently rubbing at his neck.
'So, he's still out there?' I inquire as every emotion drains from my body. All except fear.
"No. When I came to, he was dead, though I don't know how it happened." He sighs, tilting his head towards the ground, using his wide brimmed hat to hide his face. And while he does so, I catch a mischievous glint in the bespectacled man's eyes, though I choose to ignore it for now.
"Detective Kono is going to be coming to speak with you. He's probably going to want to know what happened over the days that man had you." The female twin sighs, a frown quickly over taking her features. "After everything you've been through, you deserve a break."
'Thanks for the warning.' I smile, trying to laugh only to go into another coughing fit.
"By the way, Momiji? I haven't seen your mom in a while. Did she finally run away or something?" Daisuke asks, and my stomach quickly drops. There are tears in my eyes and I can't stop them from falling. Within seconds, there are six sets of eyes glaring daggers at the teenaged boy, who couldn't possibly know what's happened.
I try to stop the tears, but everything that's happened over the last week and a half instantly crashes over me, and all of the emotions are just pouring out of me and I can't stop them.
"What… Momiji, what's wrong?" He tries, reaching a hand towards me.
"The man killed both of her parents the day before he kidnapped, tortured her over the course of several days, and then tried to kill her." Lin says in a cold tone, the closest to truly angry I've ever seen him get. I can hear everyone's voices, all except for the tall man in glasses, as they stand there with closed mouths.
"On a side note, you'll make an almost full recovery!" Houshou calls from across the room, shrugging as if it was the best news in the world. Granted, it was probably the best I was going to get.
'Almost?' I hold the board up curiously.
"Well, psychologically speaking, I wouldn't be surprised if you became a crazed psycho yourself." Naru chuckles in a sarcastic tone, which I answer with a glare.
"I just meant that there are some things that take a while longer to heal. Like mental and emotional scars." The monk tries to fix, while a small bit of sweat starts to bead down his cheek.
"Not to mention the flashbacks she's going to be having from some of that torture." The tall man in spectacles interjects, leaving me glaring at him.
'So, when do you guys think I'll be able to leave?' I try, curious to see what everyone thinks.
"Not for at least a day or two." Naru beats everyone to the punch, a small frown playing across his face. "They have to get you stable before you can even think of leaving."
'Speaking from personal experience?' I smile a little cruelly, as everyone starts to chuckle.
"Hush you. Mild anemia and almost dying from starvation, dehydration and suffocation are completely different." He retorts.
'True.' I try to sigh, only to give out a couple of coughs. 'Thanks for trusting Mai's dream.'
"She was so adamant, and after that test we gave her, it was hard not to trust her." Naru smirks, looking at the girl laying across the bed with a grimace on her own face.
'Test…?' I glare at him, remembering some of the tests I had been put through as a kid.
"I've never seen anyone get a zero on one of those. It was rather impressive." The priestess chuckles, tucking some hair behind her ear. Mai is grumbling from the bed and I almost laugh.
Reaching up, I gently press my hand against the side of my head as a couple of images flash through my mind.
"You okay?" Mika asks, sitting next to me before gently pulling me in against her shoulder.
I nod slightly, letting my gaze wander towards the tall man with spectacles.
"I'm guessing that blockage you had is clearing up. Probably getting a lot of unpleasant visions." He says without speaking. I glare slightly, turning away for a moment to try and write only for pain to shoot through my head. I double over slightly, gripping tightly at the sides of my head.
"Don't bother. And there's no need to mention anything to anyone. Lucky thing they found you, considering I killed the only person that truly knew where you were."
Wincing, I take a couple of deep breaths as a couple of hands come to rest gently on my back. "Not like my dying would have mattered to you either way." I whisper with my own mind, glaring daggers at the sheets in front of me.
"True. But, you should know that if you get in my way, I'll kill you without a second thought." He easily returns, a gentle smile playing over his features.
"I'll remember that, Sakurazukamori." I glare slightly at him and nod to the pair of teenagers trying to comfort me.
"Momiji, if it's alright with you, once you're out of the hospital, I'd like to run a test." Naru's voice pipes up, and I instantly glare at him. "It's pretty straight forward, just push a button a few times. Only if you're alright with it, of course." He adds, as if remembering what had happened before.
'I'll think about it.' I write, a slight frown playing across my features.
Silence quickly fills the room. I look at each person in the room, and I know they all want to know everything that's happened. Then my eyes land on the tall, silent man standing in the corner, keeping his eyes averted. There's tightness around his eyes that I can instantly recognize. He's angry about something.
Another knock on the small room's door pulls everyone's attention towards it. I can hear the rough voice of the detective and the smoothness of a younger man before the door opens to reveal the pair.
"Well, Ms. Yamatoku… Aren't you popular." The older detective chides, looking at the massive amount of people in the room. "I assume you know why I'm here."
I nod, quickly building up the emotionless mask that I had lost not so long ago.
"I'll be taking your statements on a few things, then I'll let you get some more rest."
The groups of people around the room look at one another before all nodding and leaving the small room to give us privacy. As everyone's filing out, I make a quick movements and try to call out, but the pain in my throat and elbow stop me and have me doubled over in pain. Several of the people stop in the doorway, and when I can finally look up, as many are looking back as possible.
"Do you want someone to stay with you while we take your statement?" The detective asks, looking down at me with a gentle smile.
Nodding I quickly write down Lin's name. I can hear Naru chuckling quietly as he tells the older male to stay in the room while he corrals the rest of the group.
Lin slowly walks back into the room, pulling a chair next to the bed while the two police officers pull up a couple for themselves.
The questions they ask are fairly straight forward. They ask about the second victim I saw, what happened the day my parents died, why I chased after the third subway victim before she was even on the train. It wasn't until they got to the questions about what happened while that man held me prisoner that all of us begin to feel uncomfortable. I write out everything I can remember.
"The initial report says that you found her, sir. What can you tell us?" The officer turns towards Lin and I can feel my entire body freeze.
"I found her unconscious. I covered her up, called the police and an ambulance, and gave her some basic first aid." Lin says, his fists shaking slightly in his lap.
"How did you know where she was?" The officer inquires, looking between the two of us.
'You don't put much stock in psychics and paranormal activity, right?' I write faster than I've ever written anything in my life.
"I believe in Mirei." He answers, looking me dead in the eye.
"That young man with the green eyes and I have more in common than you'd think. I had one of my shikigami search for her energy, and lead me to her once he found her." Lin answers, staring the detective down as if he can bend the man to his will, and for all I know, he can.
"Alright. That's all we need. Yamatoku-san, I hope you make a quick recovery." He says as the two older gentlemen stand, carefully making their way from the room.
Bowing slightly, I wait until the door closes to turn towards the onmyoji.
'I'm sorry.' I hold the board right in the man's face, since he still refuses to look at me.
"There's nothing for you to be sorry about." He answers, staring at the foot of the bed.
'Then why won't you look at me?' I can feel tears starting to well up in the corners of my eyes.
"Because, I can't look at you… Without seeing your corpse." He answers. The machine that's been steadily beating slows for just a moment, and then continues its original pace.
"L…Lin? Wh…at?" I somehow manage to squeak out.
"You were dead when I found you." He whispers.
"Ho..w?" I croak quietly, moving towards him just slightly.
"I… forced some energy into your heart. I did it until it started beating again." He sighs, turning towards me with pain in his eyes.
I jump towards him, easily wrapping my arms around his neck and bury my face against his chest. He moves his arms around me, gently pulling me in against him. Trying to move closer, I almost fall out of the bed, but he easily catches me.
"I'm sorry we didn't get there sooner." He mumbles against the top of my head, his grip around me tightening as his hands tremble.
"Bl…ame… Naru…" I croak. A smile quickly spreads across my lips as I listen to the rumble of laughter bubbling in his chest.
The large onmyoji easily lifts me and places me back in the bed, his large hand gently moving down along my head, tangling within my hair before he kisses my forehead.
"Momiji, it's not my place, but if it's alright, I would like to keep in contact." He smiles gently, sitting back into the chair.
'I would like that. And thank you. Because of you, I'm alive.' I smile, holding the board up for him to see.
"Please don't thank me." He sighs, leaning forward to rest his head in his hands, his gaze lifting just slightly to look at my neck. "I didn't get there in time to save you. All I managed was to keep you alive."
'I used to wish I was dead. I made jokes, put myself in danger. But, I don't want my life to end like that. So, thank you.' I smile, looking past the man in front of me towards a window. I enjoy the view and for once, I'm truly thankful to be alive.